Social Networks and Public Support for the European Union

Although political conversations on European integration are common, they are not part of existing explanations for attitude formation on the EU. This book examines the impact of social networks-interpersonal interactions and connections-in shaping attitudes on European integration. Looking at opinion formation through the lens of social networks, the author develops an innovative argument about the role that social networks play in delivering information and molding individuals' identities. Radziszewski uses an extended case study on Poland to demonstrate that with an increase in interpersonal conversations with anti-EU conversation partners, individual support for the EU not only declines but the impact of age, education, and occupation is overshadowed by the network effect. The author develops theory about the mode through which political conversations emerge and exert influence on people, which in turn, allows us also to predict how stable an individual attitude on the EU will be. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of European Union politics, public opinion, social networks, political marketing, deliberation, Eastern Europe and comparative poltics.